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Hulu has become one of the most popular places for US audiences to watch TV and movies online. Eileen McDermott examines whether the model has a fighting chance

With companies struggling to adapt from traditional to digital models of generating revenue from copyrighted content, a number of businesses have lessons to offer content owners. Eileen McDermott reports

• Federal Circuit bolsters design patents The Federal Circuit in February overturned a ruling by the International Trade Commission (ITC) that said that shoe designs mimicking the popular Crocs footwear did not infringe the company's design patent. In his opinion, Judge Randall Rader of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit applied the Egyptian Goddess standard for determining design patent infringement. He criticised the ITC for its "excessive reliance on a detailed verbal description in design infringement cases", saying that the written claim description in this case "distorts the infringement analysis by the ordinary observer viewing the design as a whole". Lawyers say that the decision could encourage more IP owners to protect their innovations with design patents.

Following plans to include Israel among the OECD countries, the US is considering downgrading Israel from the US Special 301 Priority Watch List of serious IP offenders. The change is, however, dependent on Israel amending its Patent Law to make it easier to obtain extensions for pharmaceutical patents.

Since November 1 2007, a change in the Belgian Patent Law has made the courts of the Chambers of Commerce (in the jurisdictions where there is a Court of Appeal) the competent courts to decide patent cases, instead of the courts of first instance. The aim was to centralise the patent cases in fewer courts, five in practice, to ensure that these cases would over time be treated by more experienced judges.

There appears to be a softening by the Patent Office of the extension of patent term provisions in Australia. Traditionally, an extension of patent term was only available for pharmaceuticals. Indeed, the Act contained a specific limitation to "pharmaceutical substances per se".

A growing number of high-tech companies that built their businesses on the back of proprietary IP are experimenting with open-source. Mark Kenrick explains why

India's Supreme Court will hear an appeal by German drug maker Bayer in a case that aims to link the country's IP office and its drug regulator

As part of the Senate's compromise on patent reform proposed last month, a new provision on false patent marking would put an end to the recent proliferation of such cases

How IP offices are tackling pendency